


all the good girls go to hell

by clizziem



Series: Don't Smile at Me [9]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Azula (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Azula Joins the Gaang (Avatar), Friendship, Gen, Protective Azula (Avatar), kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-15 09:07:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28561059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clizziem/pseuds/clizziem
Summary: Azula digs her hands into the pockets of the black and red bomber jacket she chose to wear and glances at her brother bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet. She can’t decide if he seems particularly anxious or excited. The screech of the old doorbell attached to the brown door they’re standing in front of echoes in her ears.“You told them I’m coming?” She asks. Zuko nods.“They’re excited to properly meet you,” he says. Azula highly doubts that but she doesn’t say anything.  She also doesn’t want to tell Zuko she’s still holding a grudge against half the group, including Sokka. Who Zuko just had his second first date with. She’s been texting Katara a little but the conversations are weak and forced.Azula can tell Katara wants to text her as much as Azula wants to text Katara.Not at all.Azula on meeting Zuko's new friends
Relationships: Azula & Katara (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Don't Smile at Me [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2079291
Comments: 17
Kudos: 314





	all the good girls go to hell

**Author's Note:**

> Did someone order some Katara and Azula friendship? No? Okay well have it anyway. This might be one of my favorite parts, not gonna lie.  
> Enjoy!

Azula digs her hands into the pockets of the black and red bomber jacket she chose to wear and glances at her brother bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet. She can’t decide if he seems particularly anxious or excited. The screech of the old doorbell attached to the brown door they’re standing in front of echoes in her ears.

“You told them I’m coming?” She asks. Zuko nods.

“They’re excited to properly meet you,” he says. Azula highly doubts that but she doesn’t say anything. She also doesn’t want to tell Zuko she’s still holding a grudge against half the group, including Sokka. Who Zuko just had his second first date with. She’s been texting Katara a little but the conversations are weak and forced.

Azula can tell Katara wants to text her as much as Azula wants to text Katara.

Not at all.

The small bald one opens the door and beams at both of them with an amount of energy to rival that of the sun.

“Hey, Zuko! Hi, Azula!” He chirps and gestures for them to come inside. The entire house smells like incense and tea leaves. Like Iroh’s house but on steroids. There are photos of temples and mountains all over the hallway Small Bald One leads them down to get to a cramped living area with the other four sprawled around.

“Azula! Nice to meet you,” a brunette girl with her hair in a half up-do says.

“Zuko knows everyone,” Small Bald One says cheerfully. “But just to remind you: I’m Aang. That’s Suki,” Aang gestures to the brunette girl who just greeted Azula. “That’s Toph,” Aang points to a small, pale girl with her hair cut short in a green t-shirt and overalls with a red and white cane leaning on her elbow. “And, obviously, that’s Sokka and Katara,” Aang finishes. Azula gives a wave and finds an empty spot on the couch to sit. Zuko plops down on the floor in front of Sokka and shyly places Sokka’s arms around his shoulders.

“Pleasure,” Azula says tightly. She doesn’t hold anything against Toph and Suki, but it’s still hard to know she has to hang out with three people she’s still furious at.

They all sit in awkward silence for about ten seconds before Aang stands up again.

“Anyone want to play Smash Bros?”

It somehow turns out to be a perfect way to get everyone accustomed to each other. Toph can’t really play but she howls with laughter at everything she hears.

Azula’s impressed by what she sees.

Suki wins just about every match but whenever she sits out, she’s using Sokka as a dummy to demonstrate how the judo-esque moves her character is using are wrong.

Aang drops any kind of monk decorum and curses profusely when he’s knocked out.

Sokka is shit at the game but it’s hilarious to watch him try.

Zuko’s worse but it’s kind of endearing.

Katara may be the most competitive person Azula has ever met. She usually can’t beat Suki or Azula herself, but she puts up the biggest fight of her life every match.

Toph cracks blind jokes and keeps telling Sokka to “watch out!”

He falls for it almost every time.

Azula’s the only one who can rival Suki and it’s not long before the group starts teaming up against her and they still can’t win.

She’s never seen Zuko so happy.

It should make her happy, too. It does, but not as much as she knows it should.

He’s laughing with these people who made him fear for his life and they’re laughing like they didn’t not even try to tell him they were coming.

It makes her blood boil.

She tosses her remote to Suki and stands up. “Play me for a bit,” she says and walks off down the hall. She slips out the front door and just sits on the steps.

She’s tired of trying to pretend she isn’t angry.

She’s tired of trying to be accepted by them when she doesn’t even know if they’ve apologized to Zuko.

Azula rubs the corner of her eye and sighs. She wants her Juul but she thinks Iroh stole it and hid it away. She knows he did that to Zuko’s cigarettes.

The door opens behind her and she sighs again. “Give me a minute, Zu-Zu, okay?” She says.

“It’s me, actually,” Katara’s voice says, and then she’s sitting next to Azula. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Azula says, maybe a little too sharply. She can feel the urge to push Katara away like she used to when her mother was still around. To snap and lash out so no one else would be disappointed by what they saw when they really got to know her. “You can go back to your friends now.”

Katara frowns. “Zuko said you wanted to make an effort with us. Did you not mean that?”

“I did!” Azula snaps. “But it’s hard when I’m still mad at most of you!”

“Why are you mad at us?” Katara snaps back. “We came to help Zuko get out of his house!”

“Do you know when our dad showed up?” Azula snarls. “Literally about a minute after you drove off he came back! If you had been just a minute later, Zuko might have-” she cuts herself off when a lump forms in her throat and her eyes get wet and warm. She hates knowing that her brother probably would have died that night if these idiots had been a matter of seconds later. “And you didn’t even try to get a message to him. You must have known that text didn’t send.”

Katara falls silent.

“He thought he was going to die,” Azula whispers. “He would have. It wouldn’t have mattered if our uncle showed up. He would have been killed and I would be all alone.”

She’s never said that last part out loud before.

Azula knows she has friends. Mai and Ty Lee are two of the best people she’s ever met and she loves them, but they can’t always be there for her. Ty Lee’s gymnastics consumes so much of her time and Mai...well. Mai’s not always emotionally available. They’re Azula’s closest friends, but they couldn’t always listen to her when she’d call in the middle of the night terrified and desperate for someone to talk to.

Zuko has always been there. She’s always been the one looking out for him, but she doesn’t know how to live without him. That month he was in the hospital when Ozai burned him was the longest time of her life.

“You’re right,” Katara suddenly says. She’s quiet and she doesn’t look up. Her hands wring around each other and her cheeks are flushed. “We should have tried harder to tell him it was going to be okay. You’re right, but in our defense, we didn’t know he was even being abused until that night,” Azula flinches at the word she has always known applied to her brother’s situation but she never let herself say. “I had suspicions, but I never felt like I could say anything.”

“I’m glad you didn’t,” Azula says. “Ozai would have found some way to get CPS off his back and things would have gotten worse.”

“I know,” Katara says. “Zuko said that too when I apologized for it.”

Azula sighs. “I suppose that’s fair, too,” she says. “Depending on what he texted you, I guess you wouldn’t know the severity of the situation.”

“It was just the word ‘help,’” Katara says. “I knew something bad had happened or he was hurt but I didn’t have enough signal to ask for details and I was just...praying it wasn’t anything like what I’d been thinking about.”

“I suppose,” Azula says. “You’re more intuitive than I thought you were. I thought you were just a goody-two-shoes.”

Katara huffs. “I get that a lot.”

They’re quiet for a second. 

“I’m not sure if I’ve forgiven you, yet,” Azula says. “But I appreciate you admitting you could have done better.”

“I guess that’s something. Maybe something like trying to get to know us.”

“Sure,” Azula says noncommittally. 

“Why are you here, then?” Katara asks. “I know you’re trying to make an effort but you don’t seem that invested in being part of the group.”

“I’m not really looking to be a part of my brother’s friend group,” Azula says. “I have my own friends and I know he’s too nice to say it, but Zuko doesn’t want me in the group all the time. He’s never had his own friends and I’m not about to intrude on his first friends.”

“Then why-”

“Because he’s so excited,” Azula says softly. Now a tear does fall for some reason and she dabs it away with her knuckle. “He’s been lonely and hurt all his life and now for the first time he isn’t and he wants to show me what he’s found.”

Katara smiles at the ground. “He is really sweet. I’m sorry we took so long to welcome him to the group but now that he’s part of us, it’s like he’s always been.”

Azula sniffs and wipes her nose. “God knows he deserves it. I’ve been his only friend for sixteen years. He’s so excited and so scared.”

“Scared?” Katara murmurs. Azula shrugs.

“He thinks love, other than mine, is conditional. Our dad hated him. He was our mom’s favorite and she left. He thinks he’s a mess and no one’s going to want to keep him around. And what am I supposed to tell him? It’s not wrong that people haven’t wanted him. I’m the only one! Of course he’s fucking scared!” Azula’s voice keeps rising and the lump in her throat gets bigger and bigger. 

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Katara says and places her hands on Azula’s arm. “I can promise you we won’t leave him or hurt him. Toph has basically claimed him as a pseudo-sibling, Sokka is completely smitten, Suki loves him, and Aang adores him and understands what it’s like to feel all alone. He never wants anyone to feel like that.”

“What about you?” Azula says, finally feeling a little calmer. “Do you like him?”

“Of course I do,” Katara says. She sighs and leans away a little. “I’m kind of reliant on physical touch to feel grounded in reality. He’s said he feels the same way.”

“He does. He’s a hugger,” Azula says.

Katara chuckles. “Yeah. Well, we hug each other a lot. I mean, I hug them all a lot. But not everyone likes it that much. He gets it and makes me feel...secure. I don’t know maybe that’s stupid.”

“No, it’s not,” Azula murmurs. “I think you should tell him that, too. It would make  _ him  _ feel more secure. In the group. To know that he’s also giving something to the group, you know?”

“Yeah,” Katara says. “I understand.”

They’re quiet again for a minute. 

“Ready to head back in?” Katara asks. Azula exhales and glances at Katara for a minute. She’s ashamed to admit she likes this one. She likes Toph and Suki and now she likes Katara.

“Sure,” Azula says. “And, I think I forgive you. I don’t know about Aang and Sokka yet, but I am ready to forgive you.”

Katara smiles brightly and gives Azula a quick squeeze of a hug.

She goes back inside and sees her brother basically in Sokka’s lap laughing at Aang and Suki’s one-on-one battle.

He’s so happy.

And this time it makes her happy, too. 

**Author's Note:**

> I have like two more parts planned but feel free to leave suggestions  
> We stan Katara in this household


End file.
